Whats in a name: Revisting the Anthropocene


Whats in a name: Revisting the Anthropocene


The effect of global change on organisms





Are human impacts like a hammer and biological systems a nail?



What are the problems with this analogy? (brainstorm with a partner)

The effect of global change on organisms




  • Hammer strikes have different characteristics
    • Global change stressors can vary in magnitude, velocity, etc.


  • Nails have different characteristics
    • Organisms vary in their vulnerability to global change stressors


  • Also… the nail can influence the hammer
    • Living things can respond to global change stressors and affect the entire system

The effect of global change on organisms



Organisms have different elements of “vulnerability”


The degree to which a system is susceptible to adverse effects of global change is a function of:


  • Exposure: The character, magnitude and rate of a perturbation
    • How hard & fast does the hammer hit?


  • Sensitivity: Degree the system changes from a given perturbation
    • Is the nail fragile or robust?


  • Response: Ability of a system to respond from perturbation
    • Can the nail bounce back?

The effect of global change on organisms


So organismal responses are critically important–
Organisms affect their own fate and also the dynamics of biotic systems as a whole

Humans now dominate and modify the planetary system




  • As human populations continue to rise, so do the pressures placed in natural systems


  • How do biological systems respond to human impacts on planet Earth?


  • Confronted with a changing world, what can organisms do?


  • What we will consider in Unit II is: WHAT IS POSSIBLE?

The "Adjacent Possible’ Theory - Stuart Kauffman



  • Theory proposes that biological systems are able to morph into more complex systems by making incremental, relatively less energy consuming changes in their make up
    • small steps rather than extreme jumps or more distant possibilities


  • Kauffman was particularly interested in the origins of order and the mechanisms that drive self-organization, via evolution
    • how the actual expands into the adjacent possible

The "Adjacent Possible’ theory - Stuart Kauffman



How the actual expands into the adjacent possible




  • The actual describes the system in its current state, with all its components and interconnections


  • The adjacent possible contains the set of possibilities available to individuals, communities, institutions, organisms, productive processes, etc., at a given point in time during their evolutions

The adjacent possible for other species



If environmental conditions are changing… what are the adjacent possible options for survival?


In physical space -> move


In physiological / behavioral space -> adjust


In genetic / adaptive space -> adapt


If no adjacent possible -> die


Responses are not mutually exclusive

The adjacent possible for other species




If environmental conditions are changing…
what are the adjacent possible options for survival?




  • What determines the adjacent possible?
    • Organisms traits
      • developmental, physical, behavioral
    • Environmental features
    • Dynamics of change
    • etc.

Organismal response to global change





  • Responses can occur at nested levels:
    • individuals

Organismal response to global change





  • Responses can occur at nested levels:
    • individuals
    • populations
    • metapopulations
    • species
    • communities
    • ecosystems
    • biomes

Core Response: Move (Chapter 5)


Move: movement of individuals (dispersal, migration), populations or species (range changes)
QUESTION: How would cou categorize different types of movement?

The adjacent possible for the move response


The adjacent possible for the move response


Holocene (12,000 -)



  • Begins after last glacial period, including glacial retreat
    • Earth experienced a warming trend


  • Climate change and megafauna extinction drive massive change in human behaviors


  • Rapid proliferation, growth and impacts of the human species worldwide


  • Significant advancements in technology and ‘urbanization’
    • resultant increases in human impacts

Neolithic period (12,000-6,000ya)



  • Set of developments that appeared in several places independently!


  • Development of agricultural crucial human landmark
    • plant cultivation and animals domestication
    • spread from several centers of origin


  • Origin of agriculture… necessity or opportunity?


  • Whether from migrating farmers or indigenous development, most continents were transformed

Neolithic period: Humans transitioned to permanent settlements


Neolithic period: Urbanization and Population growth


Neolithic period: Consequences of Urbanization


Industrial Age (1760 -)



  • Economic and social organization that began around 1760 in Great Britain
    • factors of production (trade, farming, natural resources) allowed it to happen


  • Replacement of hand tools with power-driven machines
    • power loom, steam engine, iron making


  • Concentration of industry in large establishments
    • fueled by coal mining
    • creation of ‘factories’

Industrial Revolution marks a major turning point in history




  • Every aspect of daily life was influenced in some way


  • Average income and population began to exhibit unprecedented sustained growth
    • creation of middle class


  • Represents the starting point for serious atmospheric change
    • based on fossil fuel emissions

Key Periods of Human History: The Anthropocene Epoch


  • New geologic era?
    • proposal submitted
    • would mark end of the Holocene


  • Many geologist criticize the idea
    • hard to define a period when you are in it
  • Interval of time where humans dominate key processes on Earth
    • anthropo, for “man,” and cene, for “new”

Does the Anthropocene begin in the Industrial Age?


Does the Anthropocene begin in the Industrial Age?


Does the Anthropocene begin in the Industrial Age?


The Great Acceleration: Post 1950



  • Dramatic, continuous surge in growth rate across a large range of measures of human activity


  • Socioeconomic parameters: population, economics, water usage, food production, transportation, technology


  • Earth system parameters: green house gases, surface temperature, and natural resource usage


  • Post-war revival age
    • fossil energy and new technology flooding the markets

What happended? Haber Bosch happened!



Exponential human growth puts pressures on Earth’s systems